'The Struggle between Noble Design and Chaos': The Literary Tradition of Chaucer's Knight's Tale
- Author / Editor
- Hanning, Robert W.
'The Struggle between Noble Design and Chaos': The Literary Tradition of Chaucer's Knight's Tale
- Published
- Literary Review 23 (1980): 519-41.
- Description
- Statius celebrates the triumph of Theseus' righteous wrath as an agent of civilization and order over murderous rage and chaos; Boccaccio celebrates the triumph of the courtly code variously applied. As teller of the Theban tale, Chaucer's Knight presents the conflict from the perspective of medieval chivalry. Though Saturn exercises ultimate control, a precarious mundane control over raw violence is represented by the tournament, especially in the image of horses chewing golden bridles.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Knight and His Tale.